Suzanne Shaw

So White Christmas at the Lowry, how does that feel?
I’m really excited and happy too. Very rarely do I get to be in the North for this length of time so it’s really nice and I’ve got the opportunity to be here for six or seven weeks. So it’s going to be great. It means that I can go to the Trafford Centre and get all my Christmas shopping done!

What’s your character Judy Haines like?
She’s called Trudy isn’t she?

I thought it was Judy...
Oh, is it? Thanks for that. My last interview of the day and I’ve been saying Trudy! Basically they’re a duo, two sisters, one tends to do more dancing and the other sings more. I’m playing more of a dancing part so I need to wipe the cobwebs off my tap shoes and get practising. She’s quite a quirky character so I’m looking forward to playing her.

Well, after winning Skating on Ice I’m sure you’ll mange the steps okay, do you still skate?
I do, but due to the risk element involved it’s probably better to take it slow now. I’ve got so many shows lined up so I can’t afford to pull myself out of a contract if I hurt myself.

You shot to fame with the Pop Idols band Hear’Say, how does it compare to performing on stage?
It’s fabulous to finally get accepted in to musical theatre. I got nominated for a theatre award for playing Roxie Hart in Chicago, which was fantastic.

What was your childhood like?
It was great! Weekends were all about dance festivals, plays, amateur dramatics and singing lessons, everything based around entertainment.

Would you ever fancy joining a soap opera?
No, I don’t. I like the fact that for three months I do a job and then it’s something completely different. I really like to do a variety of things. I don’t like to be based in one place or sticking to the same role, I like to dip in and out of different places, it is something I am very passionate about, I thrive on the idea of being unemployed and wondering what will happen next, and it’s so exciting! I like to feel the fear!

You currently live in Buckinghamshire; do you miss the North at all?
I do miss not being able to ring my friends and asking them to meet up for a cuppa or saying “Let’s just go out for a glass of wine tonight, but now we’ve kind of moved to an area where we can still do that. We live in a very small little village and it’s very much like it is up North. But I do miss not being able to spend time with my niece. But we always try and make sure we go on holiday together and do things together so they don’t really miss out too much, but it is hard, not being able to just drop your child off with your dad!

Favourite place in the North?
That would have to be Bury.

Aah, famous for its black pudding...
Oh gosh, yeah! I love a bit of black pudding.

So how will you be spending Christmas?
I’m not sure who we’re spending it with for our turkey dinner, but in the evening we’re going over to my friend Helen’s house, I’ve known her all my life and we will, no doubt, be drinking quite a few Sambucas! What I don’t like about Christmas day is when everyone watches the latest Bond movie and then falls asleep, I find it dull.

I like to play games and stuff like that!
I like to get intoxicated, although, no doubt we will be playing charades as well.

How did it feel to be voted Celebrity Mum of the Year 2008?
I know! It’s a really odd choice. I shouldn’t say that should I? What I mean is, it’s quite an odd award, but it’s nice to be acknowledged as a mother because it’s my first job in my life, it’s my first priority.

I believe your Cory has just started school. What was that like?
It was horrible, it was really, really horrible. He was fine on his first day, it was his second day that he cried, he found it a little bit too much I think.

Now a little birdie told me that one day you would like to adopt...
I would love to. My husband wants to have one of our own first. I’m very fortunate in life; I have the money and the space to be able to do it. Probably in the future I will. There are children out there that need a home.

Being a mum of two myself, have you any tips on how to manage to keep the work/life balance?
Oh, I don’t know! I’m constantly juggling!

Is your house a bombsite like mine?
Oh yeah! I don’t have a cleaner, today I’ve left my room in a right tip! I was chucking everything out of my suitcase as I didn’t know what to wear today. I blitz my house and I keep it like that for about a week and then suddenly it becomes an absolute state again. I just can’t keep to grips with keeping hold of life!

Well, from where I’m sitting you seem to be doing a pretty good job to me!

Dave Spikey

You were born David Bramwell, where did Spikey come from? And do you ever get inquisitive looks when you’ve got to sign your name on cheques?
You do really because people recognise you and ask if it is my real name! And I go no, no... It’s Eric Spikey! (laughs). The name Spikey comes from years ago, when I had a flat top hair cut, well, my hair just didn’t like it, it just spiked out in all directions. The first day I went to work at the hospital with it, everyone was saying ‘hey up, Spikey’s here’ and from then on it just stuck.

You’re currently on tour, how’s it going?
I’ve had a great time; it’s been going for about a year. I’ve done seventy odd shows now, it’s my longest ever tour. My first tour was exceptionally good, it was crafted from material I had accumulated over the years, you know ten years of doing stand up. But with this one I wrote it from scratch, it’s got a theme; best medicine, based on my time in NHS.

You recently launched a new book I gave you my kidney and you broke my heart what’s the book about?
Well, I get to gigs a bit earlier now, and go around and check out the local shops, have a coffee, and read the local newspaper, because there will always be a story there, you just got to mention a couple of local landmarks and characters and they love it! So I ended up collecting them around the country and thought it would make a cracking little book, so that’s what I’ve been doing, getting stories together and editing them and putting them all together. Do you ever have to change your performances for more southern audiences? No, never do. On my first tour I used talk a lot about Wigan, I love Wigan, I love the culture and I love the pie culture. I love the things you hear, I went to the JJB stadium once and I asked this woman how do you get there, and she said ‘Well my brother takes me!’ (laughs) I don’t make things exclusively northern, like going to the shops, going on holiday, what’s in the paper, its generic really.

Where about in the north is your favourite place? Other than Chorley obviously....
I love the Leeds-Liverpool canal; I used to have a canal boat and I love going over there. You see the county from a completely different view, it’s away from the noise and the roads and I love it up through the tops and Barrowford, you come through that tunnel in Foulridge and it’s like Narnia, it takes your breath away. People don’t know how lovely it is, they think the North is all mills, cobbles and whippets.

You’ve been doing a lot of charity work I’ve noticed....
Well yes, it’s good to do when you’re in a privileged position, it’s mad really, I worked in the hospital all those years and after doing a gruelling 36 hour shift helping to save lives no one would ever say ‘Dave, flipping good job last night’, you didn’t get any of that. So, by just turning up or doing the auction or sending some stuff can really lift the profile of the charity and that help to raise money.

How long have you been a vegetarian for?
Oh about 20 years now, it’s just become a way of life. It’s got to come from inside, something you got to feel strongly about and I do. I’m a big animal lover. I’ve had nine dogs, 36 chickens, four goats, turkeys, ducks and sheep that were rescued from an abattoir, and you know it doesn’t take you long when your having your breakfast in the garden with all the animals around, you start thinking I shouldn’t be having this bacon really, doesn’t feel right.

For your chance to win a copy of ‘I gave you my kidney and you broke my heart’ simply answer the following question and place your entry on the competition coupon on page 157.

Interview from issue 28 Oct/Nov 09. To order this issue go to the Northern Life online store.

Phil Spencer

You’re supporting SPAB in a nutshell Phil, what is the campaign about?
It’s a campaign to encourage people to think of home maintenance, rather than leaving things too late, or it’s too expensive and disruptive. We’re encouraging people to think of their properties and maintenance especially at this time of year.

With winter approaching have you got any top maintenance tips?
The easiest two are the most common problems, which are blocked gutters and cracked down pipes. I go in to so many houses that have got blocked gutters if left unattended water spills out and goes into the wall, and you don’t know it’s happening until it’s too late, a sure sign that this is happening is when paint work or wall paper gets damaged.

Mmm, that sounds familiar Phil, I have a similar problem but water is coming from under the windowsills...
It could be from poor windowsills, I’ve seen a lot of windows where the paint looks fine but if you go to touch it your hand goes straight through, the wood had rotted underneath... that’s a more expensive problem.

Oh dear! I’d better get it seen to, so do you do the maintenance in your house?
Yes. I certainly clean the gutters and I’m very conscious of making sure the airbricks are fit for purpose so there is good air circulation, sometimes air pipes get blocked by grass or dirt, if you keep them clear you keep the air circulating under the floor boards and that always helps.

Where does your love of houses come from? Is it from a cosmetic point of view, the sales side or are you a builder by trade?
Well, I trained as a surveyor. I got involved to help people buying property. The accepted method of buying property is completely biased against the person who’s spending the money, all help is traditionally only available to the people selling the house. I think that’s very inequitable, very unfair, but, unfortunately it’s an accepted method.

You’ve been working on a new programme called ‘Down Under’ you’re flying solo with that one, is there’s no Kirstie?
No, I made that when she was filming Kirstie’s Homemade Home earlier this year; she has just started making the second series of that.

. So ‘Down Under’ what is it about?
My job is helping four British families buy properties in Australia, my wife Fiona is Australian so we go over there quite regularly, it’s a country I know and love, so I was helping them move over there and find houses, I am also interested in comparing jobs and life styles, what you have over here in the UK versus what you get over there.

Would you consider moving out there?
Well maybe one day, it’s not in the game plan right now.

You and Kirstie are a formidable team, how did you two meet?
We met at the screen test, we knew of each other, because we were probably the only two people who were offering the type of advice and help for purchases at the time we had been called in by the production company who was thinking about making the programme, but they didn’t know anything about it and it is obviously something that everybody does, but no one does it very often so no one gets very much experience at it. There’s lots of hopes, dreams and aspirations. There’s lots of twist and turns in it and lots of emotion involved and hopefully a happy twist at the end. They rang me and said you have experience in this could you come and give us some consultancy for about half an hour on what we’re going to do... so I did that and thought little about it until I got a phone call saying that was really useful we haven’t got a presenter who knows anything about purchase will you come in and do a screen test.

Your on screen relationship with Kirstie is a very honest one...
Well, yes we are very friendly. I mean I think if we weren’t it wouldn’t work, we are very different but we get on extremely well and our feeling with house hunting is that it should be fun. I mean it’s the biggest shopping trip of your life, it should be fun, it’s emotional, it’s stressful and it is not always straight forward we just try and make sure they’re having a good time.

How do you manage not to throttle some of the characters you get sometimes?
It can be difficult and Kirsty sometimes does, especially when she’s pregnant, she’s not really got very much patience when she’s pregnant!

You’ve travelled the length and breadth of the country, where up North would you like to live?
Harrogate is a favourite, I think it’s stunning. Last year though we filmed quite a bit around Clitheroe and I hadn’t seen much of Lancashire, and I have to say I was very taken with it.

Harrogate is lovely isn’t it?
Oh yes. Well I’m a country boy, big wide open spaces and nature and that’s what you’ve got up there.

What advice would you give to people thinking of selling, should they stay or should they go?
It’s actually better to trade up the market when the market has fallen, financially that makes more sense, we’ve got to accept that interest rates are not going to be where they are now for years and years and there’s only way it go and that’s up.

You celebrate your 40th birthday in December, how will you be celebrating?
I’ll be having a party. I never like my birthday, I much prefer other people’s birthdays, and this is the first one I’ve ever really celebrated. Don’t you know that 40 is the new 30?

Imagine if you could invite three people, dead or alive, to your 40th party who would they be?
My paternal grandfather who I never met, Ian Botham and there has to be a beautiful woman, I know, Halle Berry.

What’s your favourite northern dish?
Ooh, it would have to be roast beef and Yorkshire puddings, is there a finer meal?

Now I’ve got to ask this Phil, what’s it like being a heart throb?
I don’t know ask Kirsty!

What are your future plans? What are you working on at the moment?
Well we’re doing ‘Location, Location, Location’ and ‘Relocation, Relocation!’ And I am also writing a book, due to be published in April next year about adding value to your home.

Interview from issue 28 Oct/Nov 09. To order this issue go to the Northern Life online store.

Kim Woodburn

How did it all come about, how did you get that role?
I had been a professional cleaner for years. I had a smashing job and was living in a cottage on the west side of Kent; the boss was only there for six weeks a year. Then in January 2003 I got a call from Jane at the cleaning agency, she said a TV company has called, looking for a really good cleaner to present a TV show.’ Of course at the time I thought to myself ‘What are they ringing me for?’ So I said, ‘Look I’m 61, I’ve got a good job here, however she eventually convinced me and an assistant producer from the TV show invited me down to London and three days later this great big car arrived to take me to the meeting in London. They found me very funny and I said ‘hey if you’d been cleaning lavs for years you’d been bloody funny or gone potty one or the other!’ I was invited for a proper audition, as I arrived I saw Aggie standing on the steps and I said‘Oh my God, It’s flaming Harry Potter reincarnated.’ She took one look at me ‘Oh my, it’s Hagrid in drag!’ Personally I think she was just jealous of my beauty, being so voluptuous and gorgeous. In the meantime she was like... well she wasn’t a cleaner, she was a journalist, and she did journalism on good house keeping. Aggie wasn’t a cleaner; she was a good journalist, Good House Keeping magazine. We were instructed to clean this house whilst being filmed, we had a great time. Three days later I got a call to say I had got the job.

How did the pay compare to your job at the time?
I was making 12k a year and that was before taxes! Cleaners aren’t wealthy. Well, I was offered 2k per show and they had offered me seven shows so I thought bloody Nora I’ve won the lottery here, I’ve hit the jackpot! And then she said by the way... ‘How high can you get your hair?’

How do you get your hair up there?
Oh, I’ve been doing it for years; I had a similar hairstyle in the 70s, it was all the rage, I call it my ‘Widow Twankey’.

You never know what life’s got in store for you, that’s the wonderful thing... isn’t it?
Oh yes, I would never of guessed anything like this would have happened at 67 years of age, I’m the oldest presenter on TV. People always used to say, ‘Oh she’s just a cleaner’, because you’re invisible you see. I’ve done awfully well and I said to my husband Pete, if this money keeps coming in the one thing we’ve got to do is buy a house with cash. So, I saved and saved and I bought a big house and now I wake up every morning and think ‘Kimmy girl you’ve not half done well cleaning those lavvys.’

Well, Kim where there’s muck, there’s brass…
Mmm, there’s been plenty of muck!

Sometimes I get the impression, that you and Aggie irritate each other?
Well, of course, she can be annoying. We don’t socialise because I don’t go out much! I’m a ‘home body’ but Aggie’s got a massive social life!

A recent survey showed that women do five months more than men cleaning the house...
When I was a kid, women didn’t go to work, but now it’s all different everything’s changed in fifty years, women want more. If a couple are both going out to work, I believe that men should do 50% of the work, I think the women of Britain need to get stricter with their partners and make sure the men are doing their fair share of cleaning too. I’m going to offend here but I still want to be treated like a lady. I still want the door opened for me. The respect men had for us, they don’t have for us anymore. It’s nice for a man to say, ‘you look lovely’, but some women are offended when being paid a compliment. I just don’t understand it! I think the women of Britain need to get stricter with their partners and make sure the men are doing their fair share of cleaning too”.

Talking about marriage... you’ve been married to Peter for 30 years what’s the secret to a successful marriage?
My first marriage was torture. I was married and divorced in six weeks. I don’t have the secret, I don’t know how we’ve survived for 30 years. I hear women say ‘Oh he never puts the toilet seat down.’ Who bloody cares?’ We just don’t make a mountain out of a mole hill. If you’ve got a good man and a good marriage people should stop worrying about flaming nonsense.

Kim, many of the characters you get on ‘How Clean is Your House?’ profess to be depressed and therefore incapable of basic housework, what are your thoughts, are they really depressed or just lazy?
I think you’ve got a point, I bet around a quarter of them have had an awfully sad life, nothing has gone right, but the other 75% are just bone flaming idle. In life there’s many things we don’t like but we’ve got to do, it’s called discipline. You can’t go through saying you’ll only do what you want to do. To do jobs you don’t like doing is good for you.

What did you want to do when you were a child?
Well, I had a very unhappy childhood. I was a very unhappy soul, I had no education, I was incredibly unhappy, though the one thing I wanted to do was go to America and I did, when I was 42 years old with Peter we were there for 11 years, we worked together cleaning the big houses.

Who’s the best cleaner?
I am! My husband is tidy, but he’s a dust bunny! When I’ve been away for a couple of months, the cat is covered in dust.

Did you grow up in a clean house Kim?
Well yes I did. My mother kept a clean house and my grandmother well, she was spotless, she would wash the washing machine.

She cleaned the washing machine!
Yes every week! I do too!

You were christened Patricia Mary MacKenzie. Why and when did you change your name?
In my early 20s I saw a film with Kirk Douglas and Kim Novak, she was gorgeous! I thought I’ll have some of that. I never changed it on my birth certificate I just started to call myself Kim.

Well it does suit you... now it’s been recently reported that you’re leaving the programme is this true?
Yes.

Why?
Well lovie, I’ve done six series and I want to go out on top. I don’t want people to get sick of us.

Is the show going to continue Kim?
Well they might get somebody else, if they do jolly good luck to them, I’ve had a marvellous time.

Any future plans?
I’d like to do some acting, but I’m open minded, I wouldn’t mind being a presenter on another show... maybe an antiques type show!

I could see you and David Dickinson making a great duo...
I don’t want to sound awful, but doesn’t he look nice, the way he dresses, I wish our men had more pride. And with that hair! He just gets away with it doesn’t he?

Speaking about people on budgets, what essential cleaning items would you recommend having in your cupboard...
Lemons, vinegar and bicarbonate of soda, mix it together so it’s thick. It becomes a mild abrasion and won’t scratch a thing, and it kills odours! It can be so good for fridges, mix the paste, get a damp cloth and you should see the muck that comes off! And when you put your nose down the odours gone!

Describe your perfect day Kim, how you like to spend your time?
I’d lie in until 10am potter around, make sure the house looks nice, then Peter and I have tea and toast in the garden, then spend the day outside reading relaxing with Daisy our cat have a few whiskeys and watch TV, people always say ‘oh I never watch telly’, but I do, I love it. Then finish the day off in a little old country pub.

What’s your favourite TV programme?
Ooh, well I like those crimes shows. 

Where is your favourite place in the North?
Well, I lived in Liverpool from the age of 16 to 42, and it’s where I met Peter, he’s a scouser! Liverpool has had its problems but do you know, the atmosphere there is wonderful. Oh and Yorkshire too, I love the Yorkshire folk, they are great cooks. If we ever film in Yorkshire we know we’re going to get a jolly good breakfast.

Talking of food, what’s your favourite northern dish?
A pan of scouse with a bit of red cabbage and a bit of ketchup if I’m feeling naughty!

That was going to be my next question red or brown sauce?
Brown! Well, I alternate; I’m a very changeable lady.

Interview from issue 28 Oct/Nov 09. To order this issue go to the Northern Life online store.

Des O'Connor

Des, you’re on the verge of your nationwide tour, are you looking forward to it?
I always look forward to it and this time we have about 22 dates and will be the first time in 46 years that I’ve never had a television series. When I left Countdown it was because I wanted to get back to doing live performances and live television. The sort of things we used to do on Des and Mel was the best two and half hours of any day.

What can the audience expect this time?
I don’t know! Not everything can be completely spontaneous but we just haven’t rehearsed what we are saying, it just happens. In the first part of the show it’s just my-self and Ray Monk on piano who is a brilliant musician but most of that is really off the top of our heads.

So, you just do it as you feel it then?
Yeah, well we have a pattern, I’ll say things like ‘has anyone got any personal problems?’ and then someone will shout out and you find yourself in the most hilarious conversations. I wouldn’t want people to think they are going to be embarrassed. I would never go up to someone or point someone out, but, if they want to volunteer to talk to me then they do so and that’s why I like playing the slightly smaller venues. I don’t really like to go bigger than 1,000 seater, it’s like a party and it’s more intimate. Another thing we do, which is a game that actually started by accident when Ray Monk walked off the stage in a pretend huff about something I’d said, I thought ‘Right, you little devil,’ so I said to the audience ‘does anybody play piano?’ and somebody came up and played, so most nights now we’ll do it and someone will come up. I had one woman that came up and played like Les Dawson in his prime and there was another little guy that came up and he only knew one song and that was God Save the Queen!

Well, I think it’s lovely that you get the audience involved…
All that kind of stuff happens in the first part of the show and then the second part of the show is the cream, we have a giggle.

I am going to come and see you on your last date of the tour which is at The Muni in Colne.
Oh yes, I hope it isn’t my last one! (laughing). Well, see what you have just said, anything anyone says you can turn it into a bit of a laugh, it doesn’t matter. I have never been to the theatre in Colne and I’ve never been to Lancaster either, so I’m really looking forward to it.

I’m sure you will have a good time; northern folks are so friendly and ‘down to earth’.
That sounds great. I’m from a working class family and I never ever behaved in a ‘la de da’, diva way. I just want to have a giggle and from the moment I walk out on that stage. It’s not a case of how I’m going to break the ice or what shall we do. Oh gosh, I’m just looking at the dates and I’m in Colne on Friday 13th, I’ve never been there before and they send me on Friday the 13th! But, I can guarantee there will be lots laughs and lots of fun, you can even bring the kids because there might be a couple of cheeky lines but nothing crude or horrible, it’s a family night out.

Well I may bring my children with me…
Are you old enough to have children?

Oh, you charmer, yes I’m 38. I have a six year old daughter, Ruby and a son Frank who is two.
Well, if Ruby wouldn’t mind a toy boy I have a little boy Adam who’s five soon!

He’s a handsome little devil isn’t he?
Oh yes, everyone says he is a little Brad Pitt then they say like father like son!

So is he going to be there?
No, he can’t come that far, I don’t think he has ever seen me do concert, he has watched me on Countdown. A couple of years ago on my birthday they gave me a cake shaped like the Countdown clock and I took it home and showed it to him, then every time he saw the clock on TV he’d say ‘cake!’

In this edition, we’re running a feature on World War II, I was wondering how you were affected by the war?
I’m not old enough to remember things like that! I did live in London at the tail end of the blitz but we were evacuated to Northampton.

You were in the RAF as well I believe?
Yes, we were dropping fire bombs on the Kaiser (laughing). Yes I was in the air force but when Hitler heard that I’d joined up and he thought that’s it!

Do you think they should bring National Service back?
Well, at the risk of creating quite a riot it certainly didn’t do me any harm. I was always a Mummy’s boy and I was always at home and didn’t go out much, so I think it helped me to broaden my outlook on life. It made me more independent and I could do things for myself and function without Mum and Dad. I don’t want to get on my soapbox as it’s not really my style but I do think a lot of young guys today don’t have any direction. They don’t know where to go or what to do, whereas the air force, for me was about camaraderie, I did athletics and all sorts of things I would never have done unless I’d gone into the air force, I’d say it wouldn’t do any harm to bring it back. If it hadn’t been for the RAF I would have never gone into showbiz because I was literally ordered on stage. I had been doing impressions of my Seargent and I heard ‘Very funny O’Connor, talent contest this weekend.’ I replied that I was on weekend leave but he said ‘no, you’re not!’ He told me he would see I got no leave for the next six months so I literally was ordered into a talent contest which I then won.

Now I believe that you were in a car accident when you were young and your parents were told that you would never walk again. Is it true that when your dad caught you standing without your calipers and said ‘if he can stand, he can walk’?
Yes, I couldn’t walk until I was seven, and I’d been walking for six months when I got run over by a car, so I was back in hospital again for ten months. Six months after the car accident, I was playing by the hospital, digging in a sand pit. We didn’t know it was a building site and half the blooming building fell down on top of us! So I had a season ticket for the hospital!

What was your childhood like Des?
Oh, it was a lot of fun, as clichéd as it may sound. My Mum and Dad couldn’t be more helpful. My Mum was a cleaner and my dad was, well, on my birth certificate it says he was a ‘scavenger’ in those days that was a dustman or road sweeper. They were the most fantastic people. In fact one of the most amazing nights of my life was at the London Palladium I asked them to come and see me at the Royal Command Performance, when I was appearing. I managed to get them in the royal box and rolled out the red carpet for them and sent a car to pick them up from Northampton. That night I sang their favourite song, ‘You’ll Never Know’, at the end my Dad came and put his arms around me and said ‘Good job son.’ My Mum came out of the Ladies room and said ‘I’ve just used the Queen’s loo!’ (laughs). That was her big moment! They were wonderful.

What was your first job?
I was a printer for three days at a seven months apprentice. I didn’t think that was for me very much. I found myself on a bicycle delivering parcels and I bumped into a mate, who was delivering meat, and he was getting paid five pound a week and I was getting 15 shillings so I decided printing wasn’t for me. I left there, then I got a job in a shoe and boot factory, as a complaints manager when there was something wrong with the shoes they came to me. But they’re the only two jobs I’ve ever had, then I entered the ‘entertainment factory’ and I haven’t done a day’s work since! (laughs)

Is it true that you have one of Buddy Holly’s guitars?
Yes, I did a tour with him in 1958, the only tour he did sadly. At the end of the tour he gave me his guitar because I was giving him jokes and he was getting big laughs! I’ve still got it; it’s a very proud possession.

What was Buddy like?
I remember on one occasion he was struggling to get out of bed, so they sent me in. I started tugging on his feet (he was six foot two), I was tugging on his feet saying ‘Come on Buddy, the coach wants to go.’ and he’d say ‘Don’t do that Des,’ When I asked him why not he replied ‘because I’m tall enough!’ (laughs) He had a good sense of humour.

In 1979 you launched ‘Des O’Connor Tonight’ who was the most inspirational person you ever interviewed.
There’s not many I’d call inspirational, but enjoyable! Because for me, it was wonderful interviewing people like Barbra Streisand, people that you don’t normally get on TV shows. In fact that was the only show she did in front of a live audience, though I believe Jonathan Ross is going to interview her soon.

What qualities do you think make a good talk show host?
There’s two things to remember, you’re not the guest, and you’ve got to look after the guest, and don’t talk all over them, give them space, listen to them and if they say something you’ve never had any idea they might say just go with it, just relax and enjoy. I don’t do interviews, I do conversations! An interview is where you have a list of questions and you fire them off and you get answers, I mean Parkinson was great. It’s of you, of the moment. When I got the talk show in England, after I’d worked in America for so long, I thought I know what I want to do I want to bring American comedians in. I saw some young lads out there and on that first series, I had David Letterman, Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld all completely unknown! Les Dawson was my very first guest, I remember one question I asked him, that I knew would wind him up. I asked ‘Do you believe humour is an aphrodisiac?’, to which he replied ‘The only woman I’ve had outside of marriage was a suffragette and she was chained to the railings outside the pub!’

Who has been your most awkward guest?
Whitney Huston was a pain, she insisted upon going on first to which we agreed. When we went out there to do the show, she changed her mind saying she wasn’t going to do the interview. But, I went out there and just introduced her and of course she did come out then. But, I think she had her own problems and issues at that time.

Your new album ‘Inspired’ is fantastic...
I’m so pleased to hear you say that, all the tracks are original. It’s a collection of 18 original songs, it’s a celebration of the return of romantic ballads and swing sounds. I hope people enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed recording it.

You look absolutely great for 77, how on earth do you do it?
Lie about your age, I’m 42 actually! (laughs) I just think the attitude of enjoying life and seeing the good side of anything that bothers you. Whatever your issues, there are people with ten times worse problems. I don’t want to sound clichéd this is real, if you’ve got love and laughter in your family and good healthy children around, then you’ve got something to be enthusiastic about.

You were awarded a CBE in 2008 weren’t you?
Yeah, Cute But Entertaining!

What was it like meeting the Queen?
It was lovely and she did actually say thank you so much for so many hours of enjoyable entertainment, and I thought isn’t that nice after all the insults I’ve received in the past.

You got quite a lot of flack from Morecambe and Wise…
They only insulted me once in fourteen years. I’ve even had my album thrown in a river, but affection lasts a lot longer than admiration.

You smile in the face of adversity don’t you?
Well, I think we all take ourselves far too seriously. I’ve never had any real adversity or real tragedies in my life. Despondency should be a stepping stone to something better, you’ve got to think ‘well, what have I learned from it, how can I improve?’ And over the years that’s what’s been happening to me. Another thing about show business is you’re never completely at the top, there’s always something new, there’s always another challenge, there’s always something exciting, you can never get bored.

Have you done much travelling up North?
Well, Countdown was filmed in Leeds. I would go up there three to four times a month. I’m thrilled about visiting the North again. I’m getting to go to a few little venues I’ve never been before.

Do you have a favourite northern dish?
Ooh, Yorkshire pudding. When I used to visit Leeds, I once visited a restaurant, when I sat down for dinner in the middle of this plate was this great big Yorkshire pudding and gravy and I thought this is weird as it was a starter! It was lovely though.

Des and Mel, do you still keep in contact with that bright northern lass?
We never stop talking her and me! (In thick northern accent). We go out for dinner every so often and we get asked to keep it down because we can’t stop laughing! You and Mel are both capable of talking the hind legs off a donkey! You certainly are a good talker!

Des’s Northern Tour Dates

Sunday 25th October
The Grand Theatre, Leeds
Tel:08448 482706

Friday 13th November
Grand Theatre, Lancaster
Tel:  01524 64695

Sunday 15th November
The Muni, Colne
Tel: 01282 661234

Interview from issue 28 Oct/Nov 09. To order this issue go to the Northern Life online store.